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Grid Autosport

New Codies game due 24-27 June for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It won't be released on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One because Codemasters wants its first next-gen title "to be something really great".

(Snip) …"with GRID Autosport we had the opportunity to make a much more focussed motorsport game
If GRID 2 raced off into a more narrative-led world of racing with more accessible controls, it’s clear that for many of you, that wasn’t what you wanted or expected from GRID 2. So with GRID Autosport we had the opportunity to make a much more focussed motorsport game, a desire that many of you have expressed directly to us, and a game that in spirit goes back to some of our earlier titles in terms of content and handling.

The Handling

As ever, our handling model has had a lot of effort put into it and you’ll really notice the difference, we think, from GRID 2. For GRID Autosport we’ve gone back to a more authentic handling style. It’s definitely not a full simulation – we want it to be authentic, not clinical – but it’s more towards that end of the spectrum than before. If anything, we believe the handling is actually one or two steps further towards simulation than Race Driver: GRID, to give you an idea.

Each car has been tuned and adjusted to really give a sense of its personality so they will act and behave differently from one another, as they would in real life. This is especially noticeable across disciplines. Pick up a WTCC spec Touring Car and it’ll feel completely different to a Formula 3 car for instance. The goal has been to replicate an authentic feeling of what it’s like to race each of these cars in the games as if you were out on the track yourself.

We’ll be talking more about the handling and how we created it in the coming weeks, including how you, our Community helped shape it in ways that you may not yet know.

The Racing Disciplines

You’ll be hearing us talk about disciplines a lot as they make up another of the core foundations of the game. Disciplines are various types of motorsport, of which there are five within GRID Autosport, each with its own unique style and feeling. There’s a vast difference in the way a Touring Car race unfolds compared to that of an Endurance race. Each discipline requires a different approach, strategy and comes complete with its own style of racing.

For instance, in Touring Cars it’s all about aggressive pack racing. You’ll have to manage tyre wear and race into the night in Endurance competitions but look to race smoothly and with precision in our Open-Wheel races. Street Races are about reacting on the fly on claustrophobic streets through cities with unpredictable changes in elevations and drift cars are all about demonstrating your car control. To become an all-around driver, you’ll develop a broad set of skills.

Each discipline has a number of dedicated series within them; ranging from Touring Cars, GT, Single-Seaters, Muscle Cars, Drift, Supercars, Hypercars, Time Attack, Prototypes and many, many more. You don’t just get five broad experiences, but also different racing experiences within those styles.

We’ll be going into more detail of each discipline between now and launch, starting next week with our in depth look at the Touring Discipline.

The Locations

You will have noticed the likes of Hockenheim, Sepang, San Francisco, Jarama and Yas Marina within our announcement video but that’s far from the complete roster, there’s plenty more to come.

GRID: Autosport will feature 22 locations with a combined route list that totals over 100!

…it’s the circuits that make up the bulk of the roster
While we will have a selection of great city based locations it’s the circuits that make up the bulk of the roster and there’s a great variety on offer.

From the iconic to the old favourites, the ones classed as legendary and of course some new faces as well. In fact, there are more circuits in GRID: Autosport than there are in Race Driver: GRID and GRID 2 combined.

The Career

The single player career in GRID Autosport will allow you to become a professional racing driver. As you make progress you’ll be able to join and switch teams, fulfil sponsor demands and beat rivals.

Racing with a teammate is back and at your request he/she will now attack the cars ahead or defend their position. All this is handled by a simple button press on the controller and it’s a feature that will also allow you to request information from your team engineer.

The career is open and this means that you’ll only ever have to compete in the racing disciplines that you want to. If you’re a Touring Car fanatic then by all means find a home within the Touring section, and never leave. If you love the precision of Open Wheel racing and also enjoy the odd bit of Endurance then you can happily bounce between the two.

The choice is entirely yours to make – choose your favourite style of racing or master them all.

The Racing Experience

When you take an authentic handling model, a great selection of cars and a variety of racing disciplines, it still needs the racing experience to hold them all together and in GRID Autosport your racing experience revolves around the paddock.

This is the menu you’ll find yourself in before a race and it’s from here that you’ll be presented with a number of pre-race options, such as practice and qualifying.

If you find yourself racing on an unfamiliar circuit or route then simply head into practice and spend some time on the track. After practice you can jump into qualifying where, as you’d expect, you’ll be able to set your fastest time with the aim of starting higher up the grid come race day.

Much like the career, the choice is entirely yours. If you want to have a practice session and jump straight into a race then great. If you want to give practice a miss and just do qualifying then that option is also entirely possible, as is skipping straight into the race itself should you so desire.

The paddock will also allow you to tune your car before the race. Tuneable components include: brake bias, differential, downforce, gears, ride height and suspension at both the front and back. All of the cars in the game run great as ‘stock’ but the option to tune is there should you wish to get the car handling to your own preference.

Multiplayer

Powered by RaceNet you’ll be able to join with friends to form Racing Clubs and race under team colours against other clubs in the community. Receive new challenges every week with the new and evolved Discipline Challenge, track your stats including your complete vehicle history and climb weekly and persistent leaderboards.

We’ve got a series of features planned for the coming weeks, all of which dive deep into the multiplayer of GRID Autosport so be sure to keep your eye out for those!

While we were patching GRID 2 and releasing new content we were also busy gathering feedback. We listened to everyone who had an opinion on not just GRID 2 but our older games as well. This feedback was digested and ultimately it played a huge part in the early development of GRID Autosport.

The authentic handling model has been shaped by Community feedback but we haven’t just stopped there. Cockpit view makes a return, and with it a dashboard view too, yes, GRID Autosport will ship with two in-car cameras.

We’re incredibly excited to lift the lid on GRID Autosport and we’re looking forward to the coming weeks and months. We’ve got a regular flow of new information and content coming your way and all of it starts tomorrow when we reveal our first team which sees the return of some old friends…

If anything, we believe the handling is actually one or two steps further towards simulation than Race Driver: GRID, to give you an idea.

Funnily enough was playing Grid for the first time in ages and the weekend and was amazed by how unrealistic the handling was. If it's only one or two steps towards simulation then it'll still be shit.

Edit: Which is a shame because they do good things with some of the racing, cars and tracks.

You're so beige, you probably think this signature is about someone else.

Funnily enough was playing Grid for the first time in ages and the weekend and was amazed by how unrealistic the handling was. If it's only one or two steps towards simulation then it'll still be shit.

Yes, perhaps, but at least it's a step or two in the right direction. I'll be sure to try it first..

Certainly looks like the intention is to make a touring car game, a bit closer to the roots. Difficult to tell about gameplay from clips but it still looks to me like the handling may be a bit lame...will wait and see though. In the end I probably won't get it either way, simply because I don't spend the time playing games like I used to.

You're so beige, you probably think this signature is about someone else.

I had it set on an easy setting for my first go, but despite being on Pole by 6 seconds, in the race the field stayed on my tail. 6 seconds quicker than there Qualifying times.

I am in Touring cars and the whole field stays within about 14 seconds no matter what. There is no field spread or anything. I saw a tailender spin about 15 seconds behind and within 2 laps he had caught the pack despite his Quali time being way slower than mine.

It appears the pack goes at whatever your own pace is. I drove a slow lap in 2nd and was all over the back of first and we lapped in 1:53. I then passed him and set a 1:41 and he was only about a second behind me. Which is stupid and unreal.

Also credit to codemasters for AI crashes and bumps, but I saw two cars flip over and land on their roof, but they were able to continue and catch the racing pack back up.

I stress I have only played about an hour, but it seems quite poor already. No realism in retirement situations. A field that only goes as fast as you are and no real looking field spread as you get in motorsport.